Blog:A Lexus RX that is green?

The Lexus RX 450h is quite an achievement. This is a hybrid SUV and it's a luxury vehicle (it starts at GBP41,600). But here's the thing. The CO2 rating is just 148g/km. Yes, it's in the same bracket as a small hatchback (if we leave the sometimes contentious issue of whole life CO2 to one side).

Whichever way you look at it, that's some achievement and makes the RX appear to be something of a rolling oxymoron. It's a premium SUV that is not killing the planet, at least not as much as say a BMW X5 30d SE with 214g/km. Of course, you could always have the BMW and use it less, opting to ride a bicycle more perhaps, to even the score. Or you could plant a few trees and do a bit of carbon offsetting (the Land Rover way)...

But actually, the BMW X5 diesel isn't bad going either if you compare it with the no-nonsense X5 48i SE (286g/km).

Yes, it's all relative.

But identifying the most blatant 'eco-villains' of the road is perhaps getting more difficult as engineers continue to make some clever advances. While the rule of thumb that a big car tends to be less kind to the environment than small ones still applies, it's getting fuzzier in places.

And each generation of car tends to show considerable efficiency improvements on its predecessor - and that also applies to cars with standard 4-cylinder petrol engines.

Given the startling complexity of obtaining a journalist visa for China - the code 'J2' is now indelibly stamped on my mind - it was with some surprise how swiftly I managed to sail through airport im...